It has begun. And, no, I am not talking about Advent. I am talking about the non-stop screenings of those syrupy, sentimental Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. I am talking about the Disney portrayals of Happy Holidays where there is joy and happiness forever after. I am talking about Madison Avenue advertisers telling us what Christmas should look like and what we need to have and do to make this an absolutely perfect Christmas. I am talking about the TV specials and bill boards and radio ads that give us a distorted understanding of Christmas and a bogus version of what Christmas is all about. I am talking about all the ways media and culture place before us an idealized version of Christmas. We see depicted in all of these settings ideal relationships, ideal children, ideal homes and holiday gatherings, idyllic Christmas dinners where all is bliss and where everyone is all smiles and all is perfection. And, as we look at all of this, I am talking about our tendency to seek out and try to pursue such ideals only to discover that our lives and our experiences never quite measure up!
When talking about this search for the idyllic, theologian David Lose writes:
I suspect our longing for ideals is rooted in the desire to improve, to be always prepared to see potential, a vision for how something could be better. But this admirable, and no doubt evolutionarily productive trait can easily turn aspiration into envy and devolve from a determination to improve to grasping for an ideal that, no matter how unrealistic, nevertheless undermines the reality with which we’ve been blessed. And that, I think, is the greatest danger of idealized pictures – whether painted by Rockwell, created by Madison Avenue advertisers, or concocted in our own imaginations: they lead us to see what we have – and often who we are – as insufficient, unworthy, unimportant.
So, on this first Sunday of Advent, as we look at our gospel reading from Mark, I think we are given an opportunity to begin this season in a different, maybe even healthier way. We are called back to reality as it is.
Initially, the 13th chapter of the gospel of Mark is frightening and chilling to read. And, while it has sometimes been interpreted as a prediction of the future to frighten future generations, we must look at the historical context and think about what was happening when it was written. Mark 13 is NOT a prediction about the future. This writing from Mark follows a long tradition of apocalyptic literature and it is all about providing comforting words to people as they faced their present life and present experience. Mark’s words describe what his readers had already seen their brothers and sisters in Christ experience. Written around 70 CE, Mark is writing to a community of people who were facing horrific situations. Christians were being dragged before local authorities, sometimes by members of their own family. They lived in fear. War was on the horizon and, in fact, already happening as they experienced the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 CE, a war that brought the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. For these early Christians, it felt as if the world had ended, and in some very real ways, it had ended.
You see, when people are experiencing fear and going through great pain, you’ve got to acknowledge that pain, that grief, the seriousness of the obstacles that stand before you and not bury it or cover it up by simply saying, “Don’t panic, everything will be ok.” So, Mark tells these early Christians:
Yes, there is serious pain in the world, in your community. There are wars and rumors of wars. There's strife within families, and even within the family of faith, those called to be one in Christ. And God's name is profaned, an abomination to those for whom God's name is the name of one who feeds the hungry, lifts up the lowly, and frees the prisoner. So, when you see these horrible things happening, don't think it's a sign that the kingdom of God Jesus promised is late in coming or has been derailed. We don't know the day or hour, but we know that God is faithful, and Jesus' resurrection from the dead is a sign to us as it was to Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and our own wounded communities: Jesus is coming, and God's kingdom, inaugurated with Jesus' ministry, is being revealed and finding fulfillment. (Sarah Dylan)
Friends, this same word is Good News for us. There is serious pain in our world. There are wars and rumors of wars. There is strife within our families and even the family of faith. God’s name is regularly profaned and used as a political prop to assert power over the powerless — even by those who claim to be Christian as they twist what it means to be a follower of Christ by enforcing policies that take away food from the hungry, push the lowly even further down, and imprison people instead of setting people free. But, we know something that they don't seem to realize: the person we call Lord is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, who taught and healed, who welcomed the outcast and broke bread with anyone willing to eat with him. It's Jesus, whose way of life and manner of death underscored what his words taught: love your enemies. He truly lived this every day of his life and we are also called to live it every day of our lives. When we know Jesus, the Jesus of the gospels, we know that God is love, and love drives out all fear.
The writer of Mark’s gospel is not pointing us to a future apocalyptic event, but rather a very present one in which Christ’s death and resurrection change absolutely everything we know. For once and for all, in Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus suffers all that the world and empire and death have to throw at him…and is raised to new life and nothing will ever be the same again! And, that includes our present lives and our present situations.
So, get ready! Jesus is here and Jesus is coming! Do not be afraid! Stay awake and be alert! God comes to us now and is still entering into our lives in ways that align with God’s coming in the vulnerability of a baby in a manger and a man dying on a cross. God comes to us now as we embrace all those we consider “other.” God comes to us now as we collect food for the hungry in the apartments across the street. God comes to us now as we collect warm clothing for the people at Loaves & Fishes. God comes to us now as we work to offer a hope and future to these wonderful young people from Samaritas who are joining us today. God comes to us now, as we are, in our vulnerability, in our messed-up family lives, in our deep brokenness, in our imperfections, telling us we are deeply loved as we are. We do not need to seek the ideal. We do not need to work so hard to measure up.
In the person of Jesus, God is pulling back the curtain of false hopes and perfect ideals in order to reveal a very present reality, the reality about God’s commitment to enter into and redeem our lives and world just as they are. Yes, life is messy and there is so much that is not right in this world. But, newness is on the way, a newness we can trust. So, as we begin this Advent, stay awake and be aware of the many ways Christ appears in the present. Stay alert to see where Christ arrives, breaking through time and space to be present in our lives and the lives of others. Christ is arriving now, in this present moment, choosing to meet us in our messed-up-ness, meeting us as we are, loving us as we are and redeeming us as we are, right here and right now, right before our very eyes.